United States: Hamas and the ethical crisis of elite universities.

By: Ricardo Israel - 23/10/2023

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As a consequence of the confrontation between Hamas and Israel, it has become visible to all who want to see it, a problem that has been generated for a long time in the elite universities of the United States, not in all of them, but in a significant and growing number.

It is not the only country, in fact, it occurs in many, but the surprise is not only that it takes place in the United States, due to its importance and the demonstration effect it has for the world, but also because it is not a problem that only affects students or that it has generational characteristics, but because it shows and exposes the responsibility and even complicity of its authorities and administrators.

Just as a few years ago, Europe suddenly found itself with part of its youth traveling to Syria to join the Islamic State, will the USA soon find a group of university students fighting for Hamas or other similar groups? And let it not be said that it is impossible for a similar radicalization process to occur on some elite university campus.

It will not catch the attention of many, given that a similar situation exists widely in the world press, including some of the best-known media, where the attitude towards Israel is very biased, but I am surprised to discover or confirm that This has reached a place that should have truth and knowledge as its objective, that is, universities and also some equally relevant college.

You can understand the concern and solidarity of so many people with the suffering of the people living in Gaza, but why ignore (and even applaud) what Hamas did in Israel on October 7 or the total dictatorship it has imposed, a, since his 2007 coup against the Palestinian Authority?

Furthermore, why do its authorities tolerate the above and show no understanding of Israel's right to defend itself? It arises in universities such as Cornell, Columbia, Pennsylvania, New York, California, Stanford and others, highlighting Harvard, for its insufficient concern for teachers and students affected in their Judaism by the internal aggressiveness they suffer, and also for the lack of response to queries made by other academics, inside and outside the USA.

I don't know if this is moral relativism, serious in every university and doubly unexpected in one of that level, but it undoubtedly has a share of hypocrisy and double standards, since it would be unimaginable for them to have that attitude towards ISIS or towards Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda.

The truth is that the ethical crisis began some time ago with the appearance of official truths, with the acceptance of certain academic corruption in research, with the lowering of demands for students and teachers, with the appearance of easy money in the form of donations for ensure the entry of relatives of the donor, in large numbers from places as different as China or the Persian (or Arabian) Gulf, in the application of disciplinary measures to those who were not governed by political correctness.

It not only generated hypocrisy within the institutions, but also a loss of influence towards the societies to which they are responsible. Not only the lowering of standards, but also the former public intellectual was converted into an official who was involved in the production of papers for his academic career, with which there was a loss of relevance, since the big issues stopped passing through them. That is to say, great ideas are no longer always generated at the university, but many inventions and topics that revolutionize society and the world arise from other people, outside the university institution.

It is certainly influenced by the change in scientific and technological production, where many inventions are made in large business consortiums and with strong influence from the states, in such a way that, unlike previous centuries, where we could mention an inventor by name and date, today it is no longer always possible, given this new characteristic, for example, the case of the Internet.

However, the issue does not stop there and does not only apply to the exact or natural sciences, but goes much further, since there is a climate of deterioration of tolerance and diversity, not only in skin color or in socio-economic origin, but also at the level of ideas, since they have been inundated by cancellations from those who have opinions that displease some or many, and that were previously considered typical of fascism, but that today are applied by people who call themselves "anti-fascists."

In my opinion, the underlying problem is related to the abandonment of the humanities and general culture. This has led to an overproduction of degrees and postgraduate degrees, which are not always necessary, difficult to employ, and which generates - we all know this type of people - graduates who accumulate diplomas, but who lack a minimum of general culture and knowledge of history.

It has been a fatal error, perhaps a consequence of the times we have lived in or economic considerations. It was a big mistake and many universities today only generate training, but with students who do not know how to prioritize the information they receive and do not find meaning in the life they have had to live. As a consequence, good citizens do not always leave their classrooms, only individualistic people, prepared to compete. And, therefore, without true civic education.

Sometimes, they also feel moral superiority towards those who are not part of that elite, by the way, an ethical pedestal that no one has granted them. It is a teaching where the meaning of education is perverted, of the training of critical people, to be content with indoctrination, with teachers who, more than guides, are activists of a political or ideological position, where students know that they are going to be evaluated. by their position for or against, and, therefore, they do not dare to say what they really think or have studied, but rather what the teacher wants to hear, in order to be approved, a consequence of a process that begins only the last century, since it was in the 20th century that the university began to fulfill the role of official accreditor of professions for society, a role that it had not had before in its more than millenary history.

The truth is that the university is an institution that, in its objective of knowledge and truth, its essence has changed very little since the appearance of the first in Bologna in the year 1088. The novelty is that it now faces the loss of its intrinsic meaning, of its reason, due to the complacent attitude of its authorities and administrators, that is, a defeat of historic proportions by affecting its founding principles.

An additional reason why the United States should be concerned is that the university system that generates these elite universities is one of the rankings where it still maintains a clear advantage over the rest of the world, especially in the range of 1 to 10, which which changes as one moves towards the hundreds, where the rise of the Chinese system is impressive for its speed.

But the underlying issue is ethical, denying the meaning and objective of the university, not outwardly, but inwardly. Today Harvard is one of the most prestigious in the world, but, just as a university takes time to acquire its prestige, in the times we live in it can be lost more quickly. In fact, memory is long and it is not forgotten that there was once racism in its classrooms, that in the 20s of the last century it gave legitimacy to eugenicist ideas and in the 30s there was nacism among its teachers and students. Will it happen now?

Today, those who feel unsafe are Jewish students for no other reason than to defend Israel. That is the loss of meaning of the university's mission that its authorities have allowed, a university that denies itself loses its reason for being, whether it is one of low prestige or those that are more brilliant. It is the disease that is suffered when those who direct them fail the compass that ethics provides, since it is an ethics of principles and not of values, because the latter are changing, which does not happen with the principles, that are few and stable, so they give us the path to travel safely in life.

The consequences of this lack of ethical compass are transferred to his students, who apparently have not realized that actions and opinions have consequences. They are young and in the process of training, but they are also of legal age, according to the law. And since they want their decisions not to affect them, they want their participation in preventing others from speaking in their chambers not to be known. As for Hamas, they do not want the names of those who have called for all freedom of expression to be denied to those who defend Israel among students, or for teachers to be expelled. That's what I mean by the ethical failures of those who are studying there, an undoubted expression of what happens among their elders, and reflected in this cowardice of not wanting to affect their employability.

Israeli intellectuals led by David Grossman criticized the silence of the international left in the face of the Hamas terrorist attack, which is the origin of the current crisis, harming both Jews and Palestinians. Not only do they do so politically, but they also criticize the indifference of some academic sectors.

It is true that the Arab-Israeli conflict is complicated, but the horrific chain of human rights violations, including the burning of young children, beheadings, executions and taking hostages on October 7, is not, that is simply not complicated, it is not .

One can perfectly criticize the government of Israel, and probably, little of what can be said is not said in Israel to Netanyahu, Jews and Arabs, on the street and in the Knesset (parliament) where representatives of Arab origin are usually the third or fourth largest bloc, which alone refutes the false accusation of “apartheid”, even more so, how can there be apartheid, if since Israel's withdrawal in 2005, there is not a single Jew or Israeli in Gaza, except, by the way, the hostages? And if a university is a place of knowledge, how can we deny that there has never been an independent State there, other than a Jewish one?

By the way, rejecting Israel's right to exist is not “freedom of expression” under any circumstances.

We already knew about this intolerance and double standard in Human Rights NGOs, in the UN and in the press, but now it has reached elite universities. The process had already begun, incubated and taken root.

This alliance between progressivism and political Islam in the name of their respective agendas should not be new. It is surprising, in the case of feminists and LGBTQ, because of the fate that would await them with movements like Hamas, but it is a reality, as is this reappearance of anti-Semitism and Judeophobia, the oldest and most persistent hatred of human beings.

Nor should we be surprised, since Oriana Fallaci anticipated what is happening today in books like “Rage and Pride” and “The Force of Reason,” to whom Europe did not want to listen and preferred to judge her for “racism.” Today, Pilar Rahola is harassed in Spain and reminds us that “Hamas is Stalin, it is Hitler, it is Daesh, it is evil. And it is an evil that threatens us all. The blindness of those who trivialize or applaud them will leave us all blind. “How many more people would he have had to massacre to make a Jewish life worth living?” The mere fact of asking this question is worthy of admiration and respect for me.

What happens in these universities never ceases to attract my attention, where the disappearance of Israel is called for at the same moment that the display of proclamations calling for the emergence of a new state “from the river (Jordan) to the sea” is tolerated, and One wonders if they would accept churches being burned or neo-Nazis not being convicted if they committed murder. The answer of course is no, and in good time, but then, why is support for Hamas calmly accepted, even after the massacres of October 7?

The fact that the vast majority of the victims are Jewish should not be a reason. Furthermore, many do not understand that the issue of the Hamas of this world is not only against the Jews, since in truth it is against all those who do not think or are equal to them, that is, all those who consider infidels. , list that is long. It only begins with the Jews, remembering the poem by the Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller and popularized by Bertolt Brecht with the phrase “First they took the Jews”, where he talks about indifference, since when the Nazis come for that person, then It's too late.

Ultimately, these universities have allowed discrimination in word and deed, an inhospitable climate for Jewish students, and the dehumanization of Israel. That is, similar to stating that respect for diversity does not reach them nor the ideas of Zionism, its national liberation movement.

The situation demands many reactions, by the way, starting with the Jews themselves. Elite universities are institutions that have Jews among their professors, researchers and authorities, being an important part of their numerous Nobel Prize winners. The reaction has been more individual than collective, so it is not felt as strongly as it should be, nor is the diffusion they should have for them to have an impact.

Jews are also among the benefactors of these institutions, who in the best American tradition receive donations, whether through philanthropy or tax relief. They would thus fulfill a valuable function by being listened to by the administrators, for the simple reason that a powerful gentleman is a gift of money, as Francisco de Quevedo said in the Spanish golden age.

Israel also has a Hasbara policy (translated from Hebrew as clarification or explanation), which in general is a communication strategy that does not give the expected results, as proven in the coverage that the country receives, where it is usually condemned. However, it should not stop protesting what is happening at some of the best universities in the United States, which is forming part of the ruling class of the coming decades, including economics and politics.

I understand that the problem exists in many countries. Without going any further, Judeophobia was strongly present in my dismissal from the University of Chile, which is why I took the Chilean State before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Although I lost the lawsuit, I achieved the most important thing, that the complaint was accepted and, therefore, the opportunity to prove what I had denounced, and, for whatever reasons, I never got any support or solidarity from the Chilean Jewish community or of its Representative Committee.

However, I have been shocked by what I have found in the USA. In fact, in my academic life, I taught at Texas-Austin, Pittsburgh and at Wheaton College, I was many times visiting other universities or attending conferences, and I never knew or perceived anything remotely similar to what is happening today.

My conclusion is that there is something of the history of thousands of years, that of prejudice and ignorance, even if these are elite universities in the United States. The current clothing may be millennial, or of generation Y or Z, with a left-wing or progressive cover, but it is not new, and it comes to replace the attitude towards Jews that the extreme right or Stalinism had in the past.

I'm disappointed, but not entirely surprised. Yes, it bothers me, even for a personal reason, since by surviving a very aggressive coronavirus in 2020, I promised myself several things, one of them being not to have any patience with Judeophobia, including those who say they were born Jewish. , but who for political or religious reasons hate themselves, exhibiting themselves in public marches, and whatever they say, they seek the disappearance of the State of Israel. But will they really be? Will they feel like it?

@israelzipper

-PhD. in Political Science, Lawyer, former presidential candidate in Chile (2013)

«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».